Firm wants increased executive positions for women

Flying Doctors Nigeria has advocated the increase in the number of female directors and women holding executive positions in the country.

The Managing Director, Flying Doctors, Dr Ola Brown, also called for an increase in the number of females on the board of directors of companies in Nigeria, especially companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Brown, while speaking during the 2019 Nigerian Stock Exchange International Women’s Day programme in Lagos, noted that an increase in the number of female entrepreneurs, directors and executives would allow for gender parity in view of the women empowerment principles signed by the regulatory body.

She disclosed that she was aspiring for her company to be quoted on the Exchange and called on the NSE to improve the level of market awareness towards encouraging businesses run by women to be enlisted on the Exchange.

She said, “This will help to grow the number of females on the board of companies. The disparity in the gender gap in some corporate organisations is not encouraging in line with the NSE’s commitment to the Women Empowerment Principles.

“For there to be global gender equality, there must be a cultural shift in all aspects of the economy, including business, politics and technology.”

Brown added that as more Nigerian women were becoming entrepreneurial minded and competing favourably with other colleagues in the world, they should be encouraged to be on the board of companies in Nigeria.

A recent International Business Machines study revealed that women were not priorities for 79 per cent of global organisations.

The report said the global gender gap in leadership could persist until 2073 unless companies prioritised advancing women.

The study polled 2,300 executives and professionals and revealed that the leadership gender gap in the global workplace continued to persist because organisations had yet to make advancing women a formal business priority.

It also revealed that within the organisations surveyed, only 18 per cent of senior leadership positions were held by women.

The report read in part, “This gap is due to the fact that organisations are not sold on the business value, men underestimate the magnitude of gender bias in their workplaces and few organisations display a sense of urgency or ownership about this issue.

“There is a need to make gender equality in leadership a business priority, create a culture of inclusion and make leaders accountable for gender equality results.”

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